Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

[bogoliubtsy]

I'll be attending this tonight out of pure curiosity. Please pray for me that I'm able not to heckle or throw chairs for the duration of the lecture.
Has anyone read her writings? She flat out advocates for women in the Orthodox priesthood. She's an ex-protestant minister who converted to Orthodoxy under the influence of the Paris school of thought, while she was living in Paris.
I'm pretty moderate much of the time...but these are the modernist voices that we need to be watchful of.

Discerning the Signs of the Times
The Vision of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel
June 3, 2003 - 7:00 pm
Chapel, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Brookline, MA
(Reception to follow)
Donation: $10

From first woman Reformed minister in France to Leading
French Orthodox Theologian and Author
Key Presenter at International Consultations of Orthodox Women,
beginning with Agapia (Romania 1976)
Friend and Colleague of many of the great Russian emigres in France
Metropolitan Evlogy, Frs. Sergius Bulgakov and Lev Gillet,
Mother Maria Skobtsova, Vladimir Lossky, Paul Evdokimov

To be living, this Tradition must, in fidelity to the original and fundamental message,
attempt to find answers to the new questions asked to the Church in its new circumstances..."

• Elisabeth Behr-Sigel

[Natasha]

I would advocate heckling actually....

[Logos]

And this is going on at a GOA seminary? This is sad. I would stand up for the truth. She use to be an ex-protestant minister? Sounds like she wants to remodel Orthodoxy in her own manner.Has anything good come from the Paris school? Here is another thing that gets me. I resent converts like Ms. Behr-Sigel who come to Orthodoxy and then want to remake it in their own image. I am ONLY talking about SOME converts, and not ALL converts. Of course, they are some cradle born who do the same thing. I am sorry if this offends anyone.

[bogoliubtsy]

I believe she's been Orthodox for a good 40 or 50 years...still though, being a Protestant woman minister then converting to the "Parisian" flavor of Orthodoxy seems a near deadly combo.
What's disturbing as well is my church's women's group that's helping to organize her visit. I won't get into the make up of that group publicly though. Argh...

What does our resident St.Vlad's seminarian think of her? Prof. Behr-Sigel(got to love the liberated hyphenated last name) recently spoke there. Did you get a chance to see her speak?

[Natasha]

Why someone would convert to something they did not agree with 100%, & then have the audacity to attempt to change it? I don't understand how she can challenge such fundamental beliefs and actually be supported by some Orthodox Churches!

[Natasha]

"The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood in Orthodox churches is not "closed", according to WCC general secretary Konrad Raiser. In one plenary session, Vsevolod Chaplin of the Russian Orthodox Church described the call for inclusive language as "blasphemous". As long as other WCC churches advocate an agenda calling for all churches to ordain women and accept inclusive language, he said, "eucharistic unity is a dream that will never come true". When a journalist asked Raiser to comment at a press conference on Chaplin's remarks, the German theologian pointed to recent research about women's ordination by two respected Orthodox theologians, Bishop Kallistos Ware and Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, who he said had reached the conclusion that "there are no essential or ecclesiological reasons preventing the ordination of women in the Orthodox tradition". Raiser said this research, which reflects "emerging perspectives" within Orthodoxy, shows that "if you take seriously the Christian affirmation that men and women are created equally in the image of God..., the systematic exclusion of women from the ministry cannot be defended on purely theological grounds". " :ohvey:

[bogoliubtsy]

I'll come back with a full report after tonight's festivities. On another note...what's increasingly difficult is explaining to non-Orthodox(or maybe even some Orthodox!) that you're against the ordination of women and that our Church doesn't practice it, without them thinking you're sexist, mysogenist, etc. Just venting...